System for providing information on playing golf

ABSTRACT

A system for providing information on playing golf includes: an input unit; a processing unit that receives input information from the input unit and calculates output information concerning playing golf; and a display unit portable by a golf player that displays the output information. The input information may be a current position of a golf ball of the golf player. The golf ball may include an RFID system storing information concerning the golf ball. The input unit may include a reading unit for reading the information stored in the RFID system without any contact from the golf ball, and the information read by the reading unit is shown on the display unit. The system may include a data receiver that receives information dispatched by other player via a network. The system may include a data transmitter that transmits information dispatched by the golf player via a network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention relates to Provisional Patent Application No.61/592,160, filed on Jan. 30, 2012, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for providing information onplaying golf, more particularly to a system for providing information onplaying golf using radio-frequency identification (RFID).

Generally, an RFID tag includes an IC chip made of silicon and anantenna made of metal. Currently, no golf ball having an RFID tag hasyet been realized for actual use. In addition, little effort has beenmade in research and development of a system for using the RFID tageffectively when a player walks around a golf course using the golf ballcontaining the RFID tag.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system for providing information onplaying golf, the system including: an input unit; a processing unitwhich receives input information from the input unit and calculatesoutput information concerning playing golf; and a display unit whichdisplays the output information concerning playing golf calculated bythe processing unit, the display unit being portable by a player.

According to an embodiment of the system of the present invention, theoutput information transmitted from the input unit to the processingunit may be a current position of the golf ball. In this case, theoutput information concerning playing golf may be a layout of a golfcourse in which the golf ball currently exists. This system may furtherinclude a data receiving unit that receives information concerning thelayout of the golf course via a network and supplies it to theprocessing unit.

The output information concerning playing golf may be a distance fromthe current position of the golf ball to a target position on thelayout. The target position may be a cup, a bunker, a water hazard or acombination thereof.

The output information concerning playing golf may be a condition of acountry club or a golf course where the golf ball currently exists. Thecondition of the country club or the golf course may be at least oneselected from a group consisting of the weather information and thelength, density, hardness, and water content of the lawn. This systemmay further include a data receiver that receives information concerningthe condition of the country club or the golf course via a network andsupplies it to the processing unit.

The output information concerning playing golf may be a recommendednumber of the golf club for hitting the golf ball from the currentposition to the target position on the layout. The processing unit maycalculate the recommended number of the golf club taking into accountthe condition of the country club or the golf course where the golf ballcurrently exists as well. This system may further include a data storageunit that stores a result of previous plays and the processing unit maycalculate the recommended number of the golf club taking into accountthe result of the previous plays as well.

The input unit may include a manual input means for inputtinginformation of the current position of the golf ball manually. The inputunit may include a GPS receiver for obtaining information of the currentposition of the golf ball. The input unit may include a reading unit forreading information stored in the RFID system without any contact from agolf ball incorporating the RFID system, and when the reading unit readsthe RFIS system in the golf ball, the GPS receiver obtains informationof the current position.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the input unitmay include a reading unit for reading information stored in the RFIDsystem without any contact from a golf ball incorporating the RFIDsystem, and the information concerning playing golf may be informationconcerning a golf ball to be read by the reading unit.

The output information concerning playing golf may be informationconcerning whether or not the golf ball read by the reading unit is thegolf player's golf ball.

The output information concerning playing golf may be attributeinformation of the golf ball to be read by the reading unit. Theattribute information of the golf ball may be at least one selected fromthe group consisting of manufacturer's name, name and characteristics ofthe golf ball, and a comment of a user. The characteristics of the golfball may be at least one selected from the group consisting of golf ballhardness, feeling of striking the ball, suitable head speed, spinperformance and fly course type. This system may further include a datareceiver that obtains the attribute information of the golf ball to besupplied to the processing unit via a network.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the system ofthe invention may further include a data receiver that obtainsinformation dispatched by another player via a network. The informationdispatched by the other player may be a playing situation. Theinformation dispatched by other player may be a comment on golf gear.

The system of the present invention may further include a datatransmitter for transmitting information dispatched by a player via theInternet separately from or together with the data receiver forobtaining the information dispatched by the other player. Theinformation dispatched by the player may be a playing situation. Theinformation dispatched by the player may be a comment on golf gear.

The playing situation may be at least one selected from the groupconsisting of a player's position in a country club or a golf course,his or her score, a fly distance of the ball, name of golf gear, textmessage, voice, moving image and still image.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a system for providinginformation on playing golf according to the present invention and itssurrounding environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the system for providing information onplaying golf according to the present invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system for providing information on playing golfaccording to the present embodiment includes an input unit 110 forreading information stored in a RFID tag 12 without any contact from agolf ball 10 having the RFID tag 12, a central processing unit (CPU) 130for calculating information on playing golf based on the informationsent from the input unit, and a touch panel 140 for displaying theinformation on playing golf calculated by the CPU.

The system 100 includes a RAM, a ROM and the like necessary forexecution of the CPU 130 (not shown in FIG. 1). To simplify descriptionof the operation of the system 100, which will be described below, togive priority to understanding of the present invention, descriptionabout reading of data by means of the RAM is omitted.

The input unit 110 includes a RFID reading unit 112 for readinginformation such as individual identification information stored in theRFID tag 12 and a global positioning system (GPS) 114 for obtaininginformation on a current position by receiving a signal from a GPSsatellite 20. The touch panel 140 serves not only a display unit fordisplaying the information on playing golf calculated by the CPU 130 butalso a touch type input unit 116 which is a part of the input unit 110.

The RFID reading unit 112 is connected to a GPS receiver 114communicably, so that when the RFID reader 112 reads a RFID tag 12 in agolf ball 10, information concerning the current position of the golfball 10 is obtained by the GPS receiver 114. Furthermore, the touchpanel 140 is connected to the GPS receiver 114 communicably, so thatwhen the touch panel 140 is operated to obtain the current position, theGPS receiver 114 obtains information concerning the current position.The current position of the golf ball may be input directly through thetouch panel 140.

The input portion 110 is connected to the CPU 130 communicably, so thatinformation about individual identification and the current position issent from the input unit 110 to the CPU 130. Although not shown in theFIGURE, the input unit 110 may include a camera for taking a movingimage or still image and a microphone for recording voice sound.

The system for providing information on playing golf 100 furtherincludes a network interface 150 which receives a variety of data storedin a host server 40 via a network 30, for example, the Internet, andwhich sends a variety of data to be stored in the host server 40. Thevarious data received by the network interface 150 includes, although isnot limited to, data concerning the layout of a golf course of a countryclub, a condition of the country club or the golf course, attributes ofa golf ball and information dispatched by other golf players. Thevarious data sent through the network interface 150 includes dataconcerning information dispatched by the player.

The data concerning the layout of the golf course includes, although isnot limited to, country club name, golf course name, par, a location ofthe golf course, and positions and shapes of a teeing ground, a fairway,roughs, trees, out of bound (OB), green, cup, pin, bunker and waterhazards such as a pond and a river. The data concerning the position andshape of the teeing ground includes data capable of representing thelayout of a golf course in the form of two-dimensional or plane graphicimage.

The data concerning the condition of a country club or a golf courseincludes, although not limited to, a series of correlated data includingcountry club name or golf course name, playing date and time or timezone, weather information, and the length, density, hardness and watercontent of the lawn. The weather information includes, for example,climates such as fine, rain, cloudy, and temperature, humidity, winddirection and wind strength.

The data concerning the attributes of the golf ball includes, althoughnot limited to, a series of correlated data including, for example,individual identification information, manufacturer's name, golf ballname, golf ball characteristics, user's comment and commodityinformation. The golf ball name includes, for example, product name,brand name, model name, part number and model number. Furthermore, thegolf ball characteristics include golf ball hardness, feeling ofstriking the ball, a suitable head speed, spin performance, fly coursetype, and the like. The commodity information includes price, sellingshops and catalog information.

The data concerning information dispatched by other players includes,although is not limited to, playing situation, comment on golf gear andthe like. Furthermore, the data concerning the information dispatched bythe players includes, although is not limited to, for example, playingsituation, comment on golf gear and the like also.

The data concerning playing situation includes, although is not limitedto, a series of correlated data including for example, a player's nameor nickname, a player's position in a country club or golf course, aplayer's hole-by-hole score and play-by-play (shot-by-shot) score, a flydistance of the ball, name of golf gear such as a golf ball and golfclub for use, text message, voice, moving image or still image. In themeantime, these respective information pieces may be information inputby a player manually through the touch panel 140 (116), informationinput from the RFID reader 112, information input into the input unit110 from a camera or microphone (not shown) or information presented byCPU 130's processing the input or stored respective information.

The data concerning comment on the golf gear includes, although is notlimited to, a series of correlated data including, for example, a nameof golf gear such as golf ball and golf club, comment thereon, and aname or nickname of a player who makes the comment. As above, theserespective information pieces may be information input to the input unit110 through the touch panel 140 (116), the RFID reader 112, a camera, amicrophone (not shown) and the like or information presented by CPU130's processing the input respective information.

The system for providing information on playing golf 100 furtherincludes a data storage portion 160 for storing various data. Thevarious data stored in the data storage portion 160 includes, althoughis not limited to, for example, a fly distance of a golf club, a resultof previous plays of a player, individual identification information ona golf ball used currently by a player, and information dispatched bythe player. Of course, the data storage portion 160 can store not onlyvarious data input from the aforementioned input portion 110 but alsovarious data received by a network interface 150.

The data concerning the fly distance of the golf club includes, althoughis not limited to, a series of correlated data including, for example, anumber of a golf club and a fly distance of the golf ball. In themeantime, the data concerning the fly distance of the golf club may bechanged freely in the data storage portion 160 using updated datareceived through the network interface 150 or added data.

The data concerning the result of previous play of the player includes,although not limited to, a series of correlated data including, forexample, player's name, country club name, golf course name, a ballhitting position, a ball arrival position, a fly distance of the ball, aname of a used golf gear such as golf ball and golf club, playing dateand time, and a golf course condition.

The data concerning individual identification information on a golf ballused currently is individual identification information stored in theRFID tag 12 of the golf ball 10 which a player currently uses. Theindividual identification information is input preliminarily to theinput portion 110 by the RFID reading unit 112 and stored in the datastorage portion 160.

The data concerning information dispatched by the player is informationstored in the data storage portion 160 which the player dispatches tothe host server 40 through the network interface 150 and has the sameconfiguration as the data concerning information received by the networkinterface 150. These data may be input through the input portion 110 ormay be extracted partially from the data concerning the result ofprevious play of the player.

An operation of the system for providing information on playing golfhaving the above-described configuration, that is, a method forproviding information on playing golf, will be described below.

A first embodiment of the method for providing information on playinggolf is a method for providing information on playing golf in a case inwhich the current position of a ball is input into the system forproviding information on playing golf 1. According to this firstembodiment, first, a golf player inputs a current position of theplayer's golf ball. For the input of the current position, the playermay input information concerning the current position such as coordinatedata through the touch panel 140 (116), the player may obtaininformation concerning the current position through the GPS receiver 114by operating the touch panel 140 (116), or the player may obtaininformation concerning the current position through the GPS reading unit114 which reads information stored in the RFID of the golf ball 10 whenthe golf ball 10 is held against the RFID reading unit 112.

The information of the current position is sent from the input portion110 to a CPU 130. Based on the information of the current position, theCPU 130 reads data concerning the layout of a golf course in a countryclub from the network interface 150 or the data storage portion 160 andperforms a processing of specifying the country club and the golfcourse. Then, the CPU 130 performs a processing of displaying an imageof the layout of a specified golf course on the touch panel 140.

When the layout image of the golf course is displayed on the touch panel140, if a player intends to input a current position of a golf ballmanually, a point which he or she touches on the layout image is inputas its current position.

Next, the CPU 130 performs a processing of displaying a distance fromthe current position of the golf ball up to a target position on thetouch panel 140. The target position may be preliminarily set to a cup,bunker, water hazard or the like in the golf course by the player.Furthermore, to finish a given golf course with its par, the CPU 130 maycalculate a position where the ball should reach as a result of a nexthitting from the current position and set that position as a targetposition. In the meantime, in this case, the player can change the parto a number of strokes fewer or more than the par through the touchpanel 140. This change may be performed even after a tee shot.Furthermore, the target position may be set to arbitrary freely selectedpoint where the player touches on the layout image of the golf coursedisplayed on the touch panel 140. Every time a new target position isinput or changed, the CPU 130 performs a processing of displaying adistance from the current position to the target position on the touchpanel 140.

Furthermore, the CPU 130 reads data concerning a fly distance of a golfclub from the data storage unit 160, and based on a distance from thecurrent position to the target position calculated above, performs aprocessing of displaying a recommended number of the golf club for theplayer to hit the golf ball from the current position to the targetposition, on the touch panel 140. In the meantime, it is permissible toomit the processing for the recommended number of the golf club if thetarget position is a bunker or a water hazard.

Additionally, the CPU 130 reads data concerning the condition of acountry club or a golf course from the network interface 150 or the datastorage unit 160 and performs a processing of extracting the conditionof the given golf course and displaying part or all of the data on thetouch panel 140. This condition data may be used in a processing for therecommended number of the golf club. That is, the CPU 130 performs aprocessing of displaying the recommended number of the golf clubcorrected depending on the condition on the touch panel 140. Thecorrection depending on the condition is not limited to this example,but may be performed depending on, for example, at least one of the winddirection and wind strength.

Furthermore, the CPU 130 reads data concerning a result of previousplays of the player from the network interface 150 or the data storageunit 160, and performs a processing of extracting a corresponding playresult of a given golf course and displaying part or all of that data onthe touch panel 140. The data concerning the previous play result can beused for the processing for a recommended number of the golf club. Thatis, the CPU 130 performs a processing of displaying a recommended numberof the golf club corrected based on the result of the previous play onthe touch panel 140. The correction based on the result of the previousplay is not limited to this example, and the correction may be performedbased on an average of the result of the previous fly distance from anidentical or similar current position of the same golf course with anidentical golf club.

The processing on the recommended number of the golf club may beperformed by combining a correction based on the condition of thecountry club or the golf course with a correction based on the result ofthe previous play.

After information on golf play such as a distance to a target position,a recommended number of the golf club is displayed on the touch panel140, actually a golfer hits a golf ball with reference to these data.Then, the golfer moves to a position where the hit golf ball exists andagain, enters a current position of the golf ball using theabove-described various means.

When a new current position of the golf ball is input to the inputportion 110, with the current position of the golf ball input lastregarded as a ball hitting position, the CPU 130 regards the currentposition of the golf ball input this time as a ball arrival position,and calculates a fly distance of the ball from these two positions.Then, the CPU 130 performs a processing of correlating these data withthe name of a country club and the name of a golf course to produce aseries of related data. Then, this series of data is stored in the datastorage unit 160 as data relating to the result of previous play.

Furthermore, the CPU 130 performs a processing of correlating theabove-described series of data with a player's name, a number of theused golf club, a name of the used golf ball, characteristics of theball, playing date and time, and conditions of a country club or a golfcourse.

The player's name may be input and registered as a user of this system100 preliminarily so that it can be automatically correlated with otherdata. If a player's name is input every time when the current positionof the golf ball is input through the touch panel 140, a single system100 can provide multiple players with each golf play information.

As the number of a used golf club, the number of a displayed recommendedgolf club may be automatically correlated as it is. Alternatively, thenumber of a golf club used by a player may be input manually through thetouch panel 140. If a player executes a procedure of reading informationstored in the RFID chip 12 of the golf ball 10 using the RFID readingunit 112 to input the current position of the golf ball, a name andcharacteristics of the used golf ball can be fetched into the CPU 130and correlated with each other because they are contained in the readinformation. When the player executes no procedure of reading with theRFID reading unit 112, the player may input a name of a used golf courseand the like manually through the touch panel 140.

The playing date and time can be automatically correlated as a date andtime when the current time of the golf ball has been input last. Thecondition of the country club or the golf course can be automaticallycorrelated by fetching in the data concerning the condition of thecountry club or the golf course read by the CPU 130.

Next, based on this new current position information, the CPU 130 readsdata concerning the layout of a golf course of a country club again andperforms a processing of specifying the country club and the golfcourse. Then, the CPU 130 performs a processing of displaying a distancefrom the new current position of the golf ball to a new target positionon the touch panel 140. At the same time, based on the data concerningthe fly distance of the golf club and the calculated distance up to thetarget position, the CPU 130 performs a processing of displaying arecommended golf club again by correcting the data with reference to atleast one of the condition and the result of the previous play asrequired. The player hits the golf ball again by referring to thisdisplayed information. Then, the golfer moves to a position where thehit golf ball exists and enters a current position of the golf ballagain. By repeating this procedure until the player holes out bydropping the ball in the cup, he or she can record all stroke data of asingle hole into the data storage unit 160.

The CPU 130 is capable of performing a processing of calculating a scoreof a given hole from a frequency of input procedures of the currentposition of the golf ball in an identical golf course. In addition, theCPU 130 is capable of performing a processing of calculating a totalscore by summing all scores of the golf course. Furthermore, the CPU 130is capable of performing a processing of calculating an average score, arate of a green in regulation, an average fly distance, and an averagenumber of putting. The CPU 130 is capable of performing a processing of,when the current position of the golf ball is within an area of a greenin a golf course, identifying a player's strike to be a putting.

A second embodiment of the method for providing information on playinggolf is a method for providing information on playing golf in a case inwhich the individual identification information of a golf ball is inputinto the system for providing information on playing golf 1. Accordingto the second embodiment, first, the individual identificationinformation stored in the golf ball 10 is read by the RFID reading unit112 and input into the input portion 100.

Furthermore, the CPU 130 performs a processing of reading the individualidentification information from the input portion 110, reading dataconcerning the attribute of the golf ball from the network interface 150or the data storage unit 160, extracting the attribute information of acorresponding golf ball from the individual identification information,and displaying part or all of the information on the touch panel 140.The player can use this attribute information of the golf ball as areference to his or her hitting of the ball. Particularly, this systemis advantageous for a case in which a lost ball is used.

If the attribute information of the golf ball as well as the individualidentification information is described in the RFID chip 12 of the golfball 10, these are read by the RFID reading unit 112 and input into theinput portion 100. The CPU 130 is capable of performing a processing ofdisplaying part or all of the attribute information of the golf ball onthe touch panel 140.

When the CPU 130 reads the individual identification information of thegolf ball from the input portion 110, then it reads the individualidentification information of the golf ball used currently by a playerfrom the data storage unit 160 and performs a processing of determiningwhether the individual identification information read from the inputportion 110 meets the preliminarily-stored individual identificationinformation of the golf ball used currently by the player. If theindividual identification information read from the input portion 110meets that of the golf ball used currently by the player, the CPU 130performs a processing of displaying that the ball is a player's golfball on the touch panel 140. Otherwise, the CPU 130 can also perform aprocessing of displaying that it is not a player's golf ball on thetouch panel 140. Such an indication may be based on characters, symbols,or a change in color or voice. As a result, the player can be preventedfrom hitting another player's golf ball.

Furthermore, a series of processing for the CPU 130 to display golf playinformation such as the distance up to the target position and therecommended number of the golf club may be performed when the individualidentification information read from the input portion 110 meets thepreliminarily stored individual identification information of the golfball used currently by the player.

A third embodiment of the method for providing information on playinggolf is a method for providing information on playing golf to othersystems for providing information on playing golf 100 a to 100 c inorder to share the information on playing golf stored in the system forproviding information on playing golf 100 with other players. Accordingto the third embodiment, first, a player inputs information to betransmitted by operating this system. The information to be transmittedby the player includes a playing situation, comments on golf gear, andthe like. The information to be transmitted by the player may be inputthrough the touch panel 140 (116), the RFID reading unit 112, or acamera or a microphone (not shown) by the player or may be obtained byprocessing data stored in the data storage unit 160 by a player'soperation.

As the data processing, the CPU 130 performs a processing of, forexample, reading the result of the previous play stored in the datastorage unit 160 under a player's operation and performs a processing ofdisplaying all or part thereof, for example, an item corresponding to aplaying situation. Next, the player selects information which the playerwould like to share therefrom. As a result of this operation, the CPU130 performs a processing of processing the information selected by theplayer to information which the player intends to transmit.

When the player performs an operation of sending such input informationor processed information through the touch panel 140 (116), the CPU 130stores these information pieces in the data storage unit 160 asinformation which the player intends to transmit, and instructs totransmit these information pieces to the host server 40 from the networkinterface 150 through the network 30. Such transmitted information isstored in the host server 40. The transmission of such informationpieces is carried out from other systems for providing information onplaying golf 100 a to 100 c.

For the player to see the information pieces which have been transmittedfrom multiple players and stored in the host server 40, under a player'soperation or automatically, the CPU 130 of the system for providinginformation on playing golf 100 instructs the network interface 150 toreceive information transmitted by the player from the host server 40through the network 30. Then, the CPU 130 performs a processing ofdisplaying this received information on the touch panel 140 under aplayer's operation or automatically. As a result of exchanginginformation among the multiple systems for providing information onplaying golf 100, the golf play information can be shared among multipleplayers.

Sharing the information can be performed among all players capable ofaccessing the host server 40 or may be limited to among players of aparticular group. The individual identification information of theplayer may be identical to a player's name or nickname or informationindependent of those. The individual identification information of theplayer and a password can be set upon registration to enjoy such sharingof information. As a result of transmitting the individualidentification information and password of the player from the systemfor providing information on playing golf 100 to the host server 40, thesystem for providing information on playing golf 100 becomes capable ofcommunicating with the host server 40 to share the golf play informationand exchange other data.

Setting up a group which shares information can be executed freely byeach system to provide information on playing golf 100. To invite otherplayers to a group or request or approve participation of other playerinto the group, data exchange can be performed between the system forproviding information on playing golf 100 and the host server 40. As forthe group, usually, four people walk around the golf course together. Ifa plurality of groups occurs, by setting these plural groups as a singlegroup, players can know a playing situation of other playersimmediately. For example, a driving contest can be set in the same groupand a golf course in which the contest has been set up allows productionof a series of data that enables players of the same group to comparetheir play results, and the players can share this series of data in thesame group.

Exchange of data for sharing the information is not limited to during around on the golf course but may be performed even after a play isfinished. Furthermore, the system for providing information on playinggolf 100 is not limited to use by golf players but also their familiesor friends may have and operate this system to grapple a playingsituation.

In the meantime, although the embodiment of the present invention hasbeen described above in detail, the present invention is not restrictedto this example.

Although FIG. 1 shows a case in which the display unit is a touch panel140 which displays an image, the present invention is not restricted tothis example, but the display unit may be a unit which notifies a playerof golf play information by voice, for example, using a speaker orearphone. In this case, the CPU 130 performs a processing of producingvoice output information instead of or together with the above-mentionedimage output information. As an input unit, it is permissible to use avoice input unit such as a microphone. In this case, the input unit 110performs a processing of converting voice input information to the samedata as the above-described input information by analyzing the inputvoice. Through such input and output by voice, the system for providinginformation on playing golf according to the present invention enablesthe player to make a communication just like a communication with acaddie.

The system for providing information on playing golf 100 is incorporatedin a unit which a golf player can carry with him or her. Furthermore,the system for providing information on playing golf 100 may besubstituted by a portable general-purpose communication unit such as asmart phone and a portable computer. That is, it is permissible torecord a program for realizing the function of this system in arecording medium readable by a portable communication unit and have theprogram recorded in this recording medium read by the portablecommunication unit so that the program may be executed therein. Therecording medium includes a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard disk, a means whichholds the program dynamically for a short time, as in case oftransmitting the program via the Internet (e.g., transmission medium,transmitted wave), and a volatile memory in a computer which serves as aserver in that case. In the meantime, unless the RFID reading unit isprovided on a portable communication unit, another RFID reading unitwhich is different from the general-purpose portable communication unitis connected to the general-purpose portable communication unit by radioor wire.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing information on playinggolf, comprising: an input unit; a processing unit that receives inputinformation from the input unit and calculates output informationconcerning playing golf; and a display unit portable by a golf playerthat displays the output information calculated by the processing unit.2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the input information fromthe input unit to the processing unit is a current position of a golfball of the golf player.
 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein theoutput information concerning playing golf is a layout of a golf coursewhere the golf ball currently is.
 4. The system according to claim 3,further comprising a data receiving unit that receives informationconcerning the layout of golf course via a network and supplies it tothe processing unit.
 5. The system according to claim 3, wherein theoutput information concerning playing golf is a distance from thecurrent position of the golf ball to a target position on the layout. 6.The system according to claim 5, wherein the target position is a cup, abunker, a water hazard or a combination thereof.
 7. The system accordingto claim 2, wherein the output information concerning playing golf is acondition of a golf country club or a golf course where the golf ballcurrently is.
 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the conditionof the golf country club or the golf course is at least one selectedfrom a group consisting of weather information and length, density,hardness, and water content of a lawn.
 9. The system according to claim7, further comprising a data receiver that receives informationconcerning the condition of the country club or the golf course via anetwork and supplies it to the processing unit.
 10. The system accordingto claim 3, wherein the output information concerning playing golf is arecommended number of a golf club for hitting the golf ball from thecurrent position to the target position on the layout.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 10, wherein the processing unit calculates therecommended number of the golf club taking into account the condition ofthe country club or the golf course where the golf ball currently is aswell.
 12. The system according to claim 10, further comprising a datastorage unit that stores a result of previous plays of the golf player,wherein the processing unit calculates the recommended number of thegolf club taking into account the result of the previous plays as well.13. The system according to claim 2, wherein the input unit comprises amanual input device for inputting information of the current position ofthe golf ball manually.
 14. The system according to claim 2, wherein theinput unit comprises a GPS receiver for receiving information of thecurrent position of the golf ball.
 15. The system according to claim 14,wherein the golf ball comprises an RFID system, wherein the input unitcomprises a reading unit for reading information stored in the RFIDsystem without any contact from the golf ball, and wherein when thereading unit reads the RFID system in the golf ball, the GPS receiverobtains the information of the current position.
 16. The systemaccording to claim 14, wherein the golf ball comprises an RFID systemstoring information concerning the golf ball, wherein the input unitcomprises a reading unit for reading the information stored in the RFIDsystem without any contact from the golf ball, and wherein the outputinformation concerning playing golf is the information read by thereading unit.
 17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the outputinformation concerning playing golf is information concerning whetherthe golf ball read by the reading unit is the golf player's golf ball ornot.
 18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the outputinformation concerning playing golf is attribute information of the golfball read by the reading unit.
 19. The system according to claim 18,wherein the attribute information of the golf ball is at least oneselected from a group consisting of manufacturer's name, trade name andcharacteristics of the golf ball, and comments of a user.
 20. The systemaccording to claim 19, wherein the characteristics of the golf ball isat least one selected from a group consisting of a hardness, feeling ofstriking the golf ball, suitable head speed, spin performance and flycourse type of the golf ball.
 21. The system according to claim 18,further comprising a data receiver that receives the attributeinformation of the golf ball via a network and supplies it to theprocessing unit.
 22. The system according to claim 1, further comprisinga data receiver that receives information dispatched by another playervia a network.
 23. The system according to claim 22, wherein theinformation dispatched by another player is a playing situation.
 24. Thesystem according to claim 22, wherein the information dispatched byanother player is a comment on golf gear.
 25. The system according toclaim 23, wherein the playing situation is at least one selected from agroup consisting of a player's position in a country club or a golfcourse, player's score, ball fly distance, name of golf gear, textmessage, voice, moving image and still image.
 26. The system accordingto claim 1, further comprising a data transmitter that transmitsinformation dispatched by the golf player via a network.
 27. The systemaccording to claim 26, wherein the information dispatched by the golfplayer is a playing situation.
 28. The system according to claim 26,wherein the information dispatched by the golf player is a comment ongolf gear.
 29. The system according to claim 28, wherein the playingsituation is at least one selected from the group consisting of aplayer's position in a country club or a golf course, player's score,ball fly distance, name of golf gear, text message, voice, moving imageand still image.